Day 4 -The Conquest

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The weather forecast for today was cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon so it seemed like a reasonable day to hike up Table Mountain via Skeleton Gorge.
Skeleton Gorge, whose name luckily has no known direct implications as to the fate of former hikers, is meant to be the more leisurely hiking route up Table Mountain. What hikers refer to as the Skeleton Gorge route is actually comprised of three separate trails: the path from Kirstenbosch Gardens up the Skeleton Gorge ravine, the top of the ravine to Maclear’s Beacon (a trail known as Smuts Track), and the path traversing the entire summit of the Table Mountain plateau to the Cableway station.
Our hike started out easy enough on a well worn trail leading away from the south side of Kirstenbosch Gardens. The rocky dirt path wound us slowly and steeply upwards with intermittent stair stepping and bouldering.
The second leg of our trek on Smuts Track was beautiful. The array of flora we saw was incredible. Fortunately the table cloth cloud was intermittent so we were provided with adequate shade from the sun as we hiked the exposed top of the mountain,but we were still offered stunning views and an appreciation of how high we had climbed.

At Maclear’s Beacon, the highest point on Table Mountain, we carried on through large boulder fields and forests of Cape Fynbos traversing the entire length of the table top. I’m not sure any of us were quite prepared for how large Table Mountain was at the top (roughly 3 kilometers).

It was quite a long journey to reach the Cableway so it was a welcome sight when the buildings of the upper station came into view, even though the table cloth was draped over us. Luckily the cable car services were running (frequently stopped in high wind). As we descended the 1,000 meters we had just sweated to climb, the cloud cleared and we had a stunning clear view of City Bowl and Table Bay Harbour.


From the cableway base station we took a cab downtown to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront for lunch and a stroll (as if we needed to do anymore walking).
We grabbed cabs and faced the equally demanding task of getting out of Cape Town during rush hour.

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That evening we walked down the street to Peddlars & Co. for a casual dinner.

Day 3 – Tour of Cape Town

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We hired a driver (Stanley) for the day and drove into Cape Town. Our first stop at The Castle of Good Hope, has a history dating back to 1665, but rest assured that the traffic wasn’t so heavy back then. We arrived in time to see the Key Ceremony: This tradition stems from a military drill to make sure the Castle was secure when the gates were opened in the morning and closed at night. The ritual is performed at 10:00am and its highlight is the firing of small cannon. There was a group of young students attending and one them got to light the cannon after a detailed demonstration of how these cannons were fired.

Next we drove past the Parliament Buildings where there had been a major political event the previous week. The State of the Nation Address ( SONA) was very controversial. This a  photo of the Parliament building. We walked through the Government Avenue gardens a lovely stroll.

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Gates to the Parliament Buiding

We continued on to the Bo-Kaap district. The Bo-Kaap is an area of Cape Town, South Africa formerly known as the Malay Quarter. It is a former township, situated on the slopes of Signal Hill above the city centre and is an historical centre of Cape Malay culture in Cape Town. The Nurul Islam Mosque, established in 1844, is located in the area. We visited the Bo-Kaap Museum which dates back to the 1760s, is the oldest house in the area still in its original form, and well worth a visit.

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Then we drove along the waterfront of Table Bay through Sea Point and Clifton with pictures opportunities along the way.

img_20170215_134457We stopped for lunch in Camps Bay at the Codfather Restaurant for a wonderful seafood lunch that has no menu.

Following lunch we drove up Signal Hill for stunning views over Cape Town. We continued around to Hout Bay and then over Chapmans Peak Drive to head back home for the afternoon.

Hout Bay

For dinner that night we went to The Pot Luck Club. The Pot Luck Club, situated on the top floor of the Silo of the Old Biscuit Mill on Albert Road, Woodstock opened February 14th 2013. Since its opening day the pot luck has filled 2 sitting’s each night throughout
high and low season, running to capacity of one hundred and twenty guests. It has been dubbed the coolest place to be in Cape Town and its success is based on innovative cuisine, served in a relaxed yet edgy environment in a part of Cape Town that has never attracted an evening dining crowd. We would highly recommend it but book 1 or 2 months
in advance. In case you are wondering the meal including wonderful South African wines and cocktails for 6 people was $250 Cdn.

Beautiful view inside
Beautiful sunset outside

An AMAZING DAY!